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Moot Law Court, Robert Gordon University
Robert Gordon University

University of the West of Scotland ?

What do you think about this university? Is it a good one, should I apply (economics, management)? :smile:

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Reply 1
Erm it isn't exactly the best university in Scotland...


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Moot Law Court, Robert Gordon University
Robert Gordon University
Reply 2
Original post by LSD
Erm it isn't exactly the best university in Scotland...


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yeah i heard that...does it have a really bad reputation or something?

i thought it would be my safe option:colondollar:
Reply 3
Original post by Kate Kaci V.
yeah i heard that...does it have a really bad reputation or something?

i thought it would be my safe option:colondollar:


It only just became a university a few years ago, used to be a college, so people are a bit iffy about it due to that. This year it's been given something like 110th place out of 120 in the UK university league tables, so it's definitely very far from the UK's best universities.

It's just kinda known for being one of those ones that people go to because they can't get in anywhere else, or they do a year there then get good marks and transfer somewhere else.

When I did UCAS I applied for Glasgow, Glasgow, Strathclyde, Glasgow Caledonian, UWS (I refused to leave the Glasgow area so it had to be only these 4 :tongue:) and UWS was my "at least I'll definitely get in SOMEWHERE" choice.

A degree from there won't look as good as one from one of the others :tongue:


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Reply 4
Original post by LSD
It only just became a university a few years ago, used to be a college, so people are a bit iffy about it due to that. This year it's been given something like 110th place out of 120 in the UK university league tables, so it's definitely very far from the UK's best universities.

It's just kinda known for being one of those ones that people go to because they can't get in anywhere else, or they do a year there then get good marks and transfer somewhere else.

When I did UCAS I applied for Glasgow, Glasgow, Strathclyde, Glasgow Caledonian, UWS (I refused to leave the Glasgow area so it had to be only these 4 :tongue:) and UWS was my "at least I'll definitely get in SOMEWHERE" choice.

A degree from there won't look as good as one from one of the others :tongue:


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thanks!:smile: i´ll think about it, it doesn´t sound very good, but as you said i want to get in somewhere...

i see you study at University of Glasgow, that´s very good one, isn´t it? i envy you :colondollar:
Reply 5
Original post by Kate Kaci V.
thanks!:smile: i´ll think about it, it doesn´t sound very good, but as you said i want to get in somewhere...

i see you study at University of Glasgow, that´s very good one, isn´t it? i envy you :colondollar:


Well I would have gone there if I hadn't gotten in anywhere else, it was my last choice backup I just wouldn't make it my first choice :tongue:

Glasgow is quite good yeah, but entry requirements were a lot lower when I applied than they are now, I applied 3 years ago :tongue: I'd still recommend trying to get in though I love it there :biggrin:


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I go to UWS Hamilton campus. Im doing Social Sciences and so I do economics too. Hamilton Campus is a really good university to be a student at. Lecturers are fantastic and go above and beyond to help the students.

As mentioned above it was previously Bell College which some people still (wrongly) link the university to. Its nothing to do with Bell anymore and is part of the UWS chain of universities.

As far as it being known as a university that people apply to as a back up - well in some cases that may be the case, but then again thats the case with all uni's to some extent or other. A degree from UWS is worth just as much as a degree from another Uni - but yeah, its no cambridge or Oxford. I find the only people who look down on UWS are people who have never studied there. I could have went to Cali or Glasgow or whatever but Hamilton for me offered the best student experience and the best lecturers in Social sciences. I have friends who are at St Andres Uni and yeah as Uni's go I would sooner say I got my degree from their than UWS but thats only because of the reputation it has. Other than that I would not sniff at UWS. Its new as far as Uni's go but its far from being a bad Uni in my experiance..... I just got my final results back from my 1st year and got 3 A's, a B1 and a B2. The way I see it is the Uni I go to isnt going to determine how well I do - its down to how much I apply myself.
Reply 7
well i´m glad to hear some some positive opinion, too. Can you tell me something about the student unions (activities, freshers week...) and accommodation? Do you like it?
Reply 8
Original post by bordercollies10

I hope that not too many people hold this kind of prejudiced opinion against UWS :frown: Autism is never fun...


Mmm... at the same time the number of people this is the reason for is vanishingly small.

To the OP, UWS is a third tier University, but at the same time it's not a joke. It's a reasonable 'guaranteed place' insurance place, and if your grades wouldn't allow you to attend somewhere more competitive then it'll still provide you with a reasonable degree.
Original post by Kate Kaci V.
well i´m glad to hear some some positive opinion, too. Can you tell me something about the student unions (activities, freshers week...) and accommodation? Do you like it?



Last september I didnt really participate in the freshers activities but there was loads of stuff being advertised around campus and if you are into themed nights in the union then its the place to be - the final party of the year in May was a wild wild west night and they brought in a bucking bronco :P They had like a human football table last year which went down a storm.

The union is always organising some night or other with good drink promo's and generally cheap drink too. In the union there is a cafe that is open during the day, a Wii area and pool tables.

The student accommodation is pretty much on the campus and is basic but ideal for what is needed. (I live close to campus so dont use it but have seen pics from other students).
Reply 10
Original post by dee_is_kenco
Last september I didnt really participate in the freshers activities but there was loads of stuff being advertised around campus and if you are into themed nights in the union then its the place to be - the final party of the year in May was a wild wild west night and they brought in a bucking bronco :P They had like a human football table last year which went down a storm.

The union is always organising some night or other with good drink promo's and generally cheap drink too. In the union there is a cafe that is open during the day, a Wii area and pool tables.

The student accommodation is pretty much on the campus and is basic but ideal for what is needed. (I live close to campus so dont use it but have seen pics from other students).


Thanks!:smile: if i study there, i won´t know anybody there so i´ll be glad for any social activity i think. this sounds fun:biggrin:
Give me a shout if you end up studying there :smile:

Also, the business dept is really good. My economics lecturer Jim Farmer is probably the best economics lecturer anyone will ever get. He makes economics lectures actually interesting and fun to attend.... Usually by starting an explanation of something and ending up talking about how jeans were first invented and brought to the market...(Iwont ruin the story lol) He is always making our class roll around laughing. I was really fortunate where in my economics class last year there was usually only 6 of us in the class so we would be up drawing supply and demand graphs on the board and stuff.

I would say go to UWS just for the chance of being taught by him. He is amazing and bends over backwards to help students....for my class exam we were given the questions out before the test, a few lectures going over those questions plus allowed to take in an A4 page of notes - so naturally i wrote in teeny tiny writing, and got 98% for that exam lol :biggrin:
Actually, just thinking - what campus have you applied to?
Hamilton campus is the one that used to be bell college, but there is a campus in Ayr, Dumfries and Paisley too :smile:
Reply 13
Original post by dee_is_kenco
my class exam we were given the questions out before the test, a few lectures going over those questions plus allowed to take in an A4 page of notes - so naturally i wrote in teeny tiny writing, and got 98% for that exam lol :biggrin:


This is why it is not viewed in the same league as tier one universities where you actually have to work :P "open book exams".


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Original post by LSD
This is why it is not viewed in the same league as tier one universities where you actually have to work :P "open book exams".


Where you actually have to work? I would accept that if you actually had a clue about the workload that I have had to do in my clearly inferiour university. And you can not judge a full university on the fact that one subject has held an open book style exam for one first year class. Thats just narrow minded and uneducated to the rest of the schools within the Uni.

Economics was the only ''open book'' style exam we had in the full course - and even at that it was not a compulsary module but an optional one - hence there was only 6 of us in the class.

Another reason why it may not be viewed in the same light at the tier one uni's is perhaps because as far as uni's go it is a relativly new one. It takes a long time to build up a good reputation. It may be this lack of reputation that has meant there is a noticable lack of stuck up, pretentious individuals. I love that about UWS :smile:
Reply 15
Original post by dee_is_kenco
Where you actually have to work? I would accept that if you actually had a clue about the workload that I have had to do in my clearly inferiour university. And you can not judge a full university on the fact that one subject has held an open book style exam for one first year class. Thats just narrow minded and uneducated to the rest of the schools within the Uni.

Economics was the only ''open book'' style exam we had in the full course - and even at that it was not a compulsary module but an optional one - hence there was only 6 of us in the class.

Another reason why it may not be viewed in the same light at the tier one uni's is perhaps because as far as uni's go it is a relativly new one. It takes a long time to build up a good reputation. It may be this lack of reputation that has meant there is a noticable lack of stuck up, pretentious individuals. I love that about UWS :smile:


Don't make comments about how easy it is then change your mind when people point out that uni isn't meant to be easy then :tongue: and I haven't met that many "stuck up" people at my uni as you might think, but then I'm not in arts where most of them tend to hide. And before you think I'm full of utter hate for uws, I DID apply there, it was a back up. And as far as work load (in life science) goes, my friend in 3rd year there has a 2 and a half day week. Ive had a 5 day week since first year, so I am aware the work load is less :tongue: not that it matters that much.


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Reply 16
Like most uni's standards of courses and prospects students of vary from department to department, frankly I'm stunned that a student was given a copy of an exam in advance, more so that the student seems to think this is a good thing.

To put things in perspective the engineering department is accredited by "ImechE" the same body that accredits the equivalent courses at Glasgow and Strathclyde. If ImechE were to discover similar practices in the Engineering school they would throw the book at us. Additionally the majority of graduates for the last 6 years from Mech and Chem Eng have had job offers before graduation from places such as BAe, Airbus, Rolls Royce, General Electric, Thales, Bentley, EDF and Shell. I wouldn't write off the whole university based on one department.

As to the misconception that the university is only a few years old:
UWS founded in 2007 from the merger of Paisley university and Bell college,
Paisley university was formed in 1992 from a Tech college dating back to 1897.
I have studied at both Glasgow Caledonian and UWS. I was doing electronic engineering at Cally, but they managed to totally put me off the subject for life. I applied to UWS to do a Zoology course and got in with my engineering HNC and the modules i accrued at Cally, i did not apply to Glasgow as they do not accept UCAS tariff points; UWS did, this along with the academic reference from Cally (funny enough) was enough to get accepted.

So here we see that the entry standards are quite low, so this leads to a high drop out rate. This is the reason UWS has a bad reputaion in my opinion.

The teaching standards in my course are excellent, all the lecturers are at least PHD and well published in their fields.The last time my subject area was on the rankings was 2009, for some reason it has been ommited since then due to lack of information, it was mid-table among Scottish universites with better graduate prospects than Glasgow. It is among the best in Britain i must add for Civil engineering.
As far as i also know all universities are subject to external auditing, so the material must be at the required level. So in my experience the teaching was much better than Cally and the lecturers are very generous with their time. It does unfortunately have a high drop out rate and poorer honours due to the easier entry requirement, but the teaching is excellent and everybody i know who has graduated has a job in their subject area. The same can't be said for Strathclyde as i work with a guy who has degree in Civil engineering and i worked with another guy from Strathy who had a degree in electronic engineering and is still working in ASDA 2 years later. A friend of mine went straight into a top job at a nuclear power station after graduating with a civil engineering degree. My own brother graduated from Stirling 2 years ago, still nothing, i am almost certain to have a job when i leave. So don't listen to the academic snobbery, unless they go to Oxbridge or St Andys!!
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 18
I am currently studying at the University of Glasgow, and honestly, it's not as great as everyone makes it out to be. They fail to tell you that you are made to take 2 other courses as well as your own course you have chosen to do. I'm studying Health and Social Policy, yet I am made to take Science, History and Culture as they bore me to tears teaching me about Astronomy (completely irrelevant to the course I chose to study).
I'm looking to drop out and have applied for UWS. I know a few graduates and my boyfriend studies computing there. I have heard a lot of great reviews about this university and even though it is not the best one, I have no doubt that in years to come it will become one of the best universities to be in.
Just because you are only at uni 2/3 times a week does not mean that the work load is less. The course I'm looking to apply for has numerous amounts of essays and presentations as well as placements straight from year one.
So yes, I would recommend UWS.
Reply 19
As a 1st year Physics student at UWS, I feel that I need to add a little to this conversation despite how old it is. In the physics 1st year, we have a MAXIMUM of 14 contact hours each week; its normally less as the maths lab only runs once every 3 weeks and the lectures associated with that normally last 1:30-2 hours as opposed to the 3 hours thats timetabled. Another thing about UWS is that the university uses a block-timetabling system meaning all the lectures and labs ect are on the same day for each module meaning I have a 2 and a half day week. Also the course is too easy I think (getting over 80% average with next to no work outside of class times and mandatory assignments ect. There is probably about 6 of us achieving this out of about 34 in the year.) The majority of students here also got in though clearing or it was there last choice.

For everything bad I say about the undergraduate course, they are trying really hard to make their Physics research of a greater quality and importance which makes sure that we don't just think of it as a glorified college...

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